FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a notepad, according to the prior art. Notepad 10 comprises a plurality of sheets 20. Sheets 20 are banded by binding means. In FIG. 1, the binding means are clamps 40, but other binding means can also be used, such as gluing.
The sheet 20 comprises a perforation line 30, for enabling tearing sheet 20 from notepad 10 over perforation line 30. Thus, perforation line 30 is aimed to provide two functions: to allow tearing the sheet more easily in comparison to a non-perforated sheet and thus enforcing the tearing line to be substantially at the perforation line.
FIG. 2 schematically illustrates an un-torn perforation line 30 of a sheet 20, according to the prior art. The perforation line 30 is comprised of sectioned regions 32 and non-sectioned regions 34. The non-sectioned regions 34 are “short” in order to enable “easy” tearing by a user. The shorter the non-torn region, the easier its tearing. The optimal length of the non-sectioned regions 34 (and the sectioned regions 32 as well) can be determined by experiment. It usually depends on the characteristics of the sheet, such as its thickness, the type of its fibers, and so forth.
FIG. 3 schematically illustrates sheet 20 of FIG. 2 after having been torn, according to the prior art. Tearing sheet 20 separates it into two parts: 20a, and 20b. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the torn perforation lines 30a and 30b are not uniform; thus, when tearing sheet 20 at perforation line 30, separated rims 30a and 30b are neither straight nor “homogeneous”.
Due to the non-esthetic nature of a sheet torn at a perforation line, a plurality of press products cannot be distributed as a notepad. For example, a business card necessarily must be esthetic as possible, and therefore business cards in the prior art are not distributed in a notepad form, but as separate entities which usually reside in a casing, generally a box.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,175,731 to Hansen et al. discloses a method of manufacturing tearable sheets, comprising the steps of: punching each sheet transversely of the fibers of said sheet from a first side of the sheet to an extent corresponding to a first portion of the thickness of the sheet; and punching each sheet transversely of the fibers of said sheet from a second side of the sheet to an extent corresponding to a second portion of the thickness of said sheet. (Abstract)
Another implementation which cannot be embodied as a perforated sheet is a postcard featuring a landscape. Generally, landscape postcards are distributed as single entities, or in connection with a plurality of postcards.